Hunting and Gathering
by Rat
Summary: New story. Insecure: (Season One) Why did he keep glaring at her like that? -Various complete short stories focusing on Daryl, there is no continuous thread between the stories but there is definitely more to come-
1. Trick or Treat

773 words

Daryl & Andrea

**Trick or Treat**

They were out scouting ahead, before the whole lot of them would trudge through a potentially dangerous area. So far, they'd just come across more road and abandoned vehicles. A whole lot of nothing. Andrea looked into the cars and trucks for any useable supplies. She thought about how early civilization consisted of hunter gatherer groups and decided she should have paid closer attention to her anthropology professor.

She spotted Daryl about twenty feet away, staring at a lost doll lying in the highway and she wondered if he was thinking about losing Sophia. Of course he was. "Hey. I have a treat for you."

Daryl just glared. But at least he wasn't focusing on the damn doll anymore.

She rolled her eyes then pointed over at the minivan stuck half in the ditch. "I found some snacks in the trunk. Want a granola bar?"

He grinned and caught it when she tossed it to her. "What kind?"

"Chocolate chip." She tossed the snack over to him and he snatched it out of the air.

It took about half a second for him to rip open the silver wrapping and take a bite. He chewed for a moment then spat it out. "Fuck."

"Is it bad?"

He kept spitting, and Andrea looked down at her own bar suspiciously. It didn't look bad. Didn't smell bad. He even grabbed the bottle of water he had tied to his hip and rinsed his mouth out.

"Rotten?" Andrea asked.

"No. There's peanuts. Shit. You said it was chocolate chip."

"I thought it was. What's the problem?"

"Nothing."

"So, not rotten?"

"No." He tossed the rest of the one he'd taken a bite out of back to her. "Enjoy." He looked back from where'd they'd come.

Andrea looked up at the sun. It wasn't that late and they were only about an hour's walk from camp. "You okay?" He was definitely acting strange. But it was Daryl, so maybe stranger than usual would be more accurate.

"Fuck." He muttered again and sat down.

Andrea stepped up closer. "Oh shit." His lip was swollen, his eyes were puffy. He was breathing funny. "You're allergic? Why didn't you say anything? Do you have an epipen?"

"Do I look like I have an epipen?"

"No. Why don't you?"

"I'm not going to die."

"What if your throat closes?"

He shook his head. "Won't."

"How do you know?"

"Ain't the first time I've eaten peanuts. My allergy is mild compared to lots of other people."

"So what do we do?"

"Got any antihistamines?"

"No."

He leaned back against the wheel, taking controlled breaths. "Nothing. I'll get over it."

Andrea stayed alert watching the road. She was shocked how quickly the reaction hit, and she was terrified it was going to get worse. He wasn't okay to walk back. She scanned the road again. "We need get out of the open. How about that minivan in the ditch? They took out the back seats to make room for their stuff. There will be enough room for us both if I empty out the back."

He looked over to where she pointed and nodded. There didn't seem to be a whole lot of other options. Andrea jogged over and pulled the cooler and some other stuff out of the back, keeping a few bottles of water inside.

Daryl followed after, slowly. He slid into the back. Andrea closed the hatch and sat beside him. "Still okay?"

He nodded.

"I'm sorry."

He shrugged. "Why? Not like you knew."

"You could have said something sooner." Andrea sighed and tried not to look at the hives on his neck and arms. "You sure you're going to be okay?"

He nodded. "Least it was an accident."

"Your friends try to poison you with peanuts often?"

He laughed. "Just Merle. He thought it was fucking hilarious." He cleared his throat. "Rubbed peanut butter on my toothbrush once. My whole face swelled up like a balloon."

"Good times."

Daryl nodded. "He loves doing stupid shit like that. Was like a game to him when I was a kid." He coughed and it took a minute for him to catch his breath after. "Made damn sure I was always checking what I ate first though."

"Is it getting worse?"

He shook his head no. "Would suck to come across some geeks right now."

It would. He lay down as much as he was able and closed his eyes.

Andrea stayed by his side and watched the road from the back window. She was going to get them back to camp and Daryl was going to be fine. She would make sure of it.


	2. It Matters

**IT MATTERS**

"So, how do you think it started?" Andrea poked the dying fire with a stick and looked up at Daryl. It'd been a good night. Daryl had brought back a deer, and it was a welcome change from the squirrel. For once there were no arguments about what they should do or could do, and it was like everyone had just pretended for one night that the world wasn't so different than it used to be.

"You asking me?"

She looked around at the no one else who was sitting with them and nodded. "Yeah."

"Does it matter?"

"Yes." She said it with conviction.

And Daryl just shrugged. "Knowing isn't going to change it. It's not going to bring anyone back."

"It makes a difference if we can avoid doing something like this again."

Daryl laughed. "You're sure people did this?"

"Well, who do you think did?"

"Aliens. You heard Jenner back at the CDC, even he didn't know what the hell it was. If they were the ones caused it, you'd think at least they'd have some idea what it's made of."

It was too dark for Andrea to see the expression on his face to tell if he was messing with her or not. "You really think that?"

"Better than thinking it was some douchbag with a test tube and microscope."


	3. Plausible Explanations

It was early morning. Really early. Lori hadn't even had a chance to get nauseous yet. Carol was up and sitting near the fire, staring into the flames, and she didn't even look up when Rick walked past her. He walked straight to the house, and up to the room Hershel allowed Daryl to spend the night in.

He stood outside Daryl's door for a minute. Waiting and thinking about what he should say or even if he should say it. How do you even start with this kind of thing? He was just about to knock on the door when it opened, and Daryl stared at him looking just about as startled as Rick. It only took a moment though before the familiar old mask settled back over Daryl's features and he stepped backwards, giving space to let Rick enter if he wanted.

That was what he'd come for wasn't it? Rick slowly stepped inside and closed the door behind him.

"You want something?" Daryl asked. There was an edge of suspicion to his voice, defensive and offensive all at the same time.

"Yeah." Rick said finally. "You, uh, gave us all a scare yesterday."

"I wouldn't have come back to camp if I were bit."

"That's not what I mean. You looked like one of them. That's what we thought when we first saw you come out of the trees. Hell, five feet away and we weren't sure. Not until you talked."

"So?"

"I need to ask you. The others saw it too, and we are all wondering. About the ears."

Rick watched Daryl frown. "What ears?"

"The geek ears. The ones you had hanging around your neck."

"What about 'em?"

"Well, I'm not the only one who noticed."

"I ain't gone crazy if that's what you mean."

"So, then what was it?"

Daryl frowned and thought about it for a minute. "You been hunting?"

"No."

"There's sprays a person can buy that mask human scents or smell like something they aren't. Like skunk urine or deer shit, that kind of thing. The real thing does just as well. Strong smelling plants, animal dung. I already barely took down two of 'em and I didn't want to risk another. They don't go after each other."

"So you were..."

"Masking the scent." Daryl explained. "And with all the bleeding and everything I couldn't to risk getting any more of that gore all over me. So, the ears."

Rick nodded. "Okay. That's good."

"You thought I went all tiger force on you didn't you?"

"No. Course not." Rick assured him.

There was a hint of a grin for almost a second, Rick might have missed it if he hadn't been watching Daryl's expression as closely as he was. "And what if I did?" Daryl asked.

"Then this might be a different conversation."

They both stared at each other, not quite trusting either way.

"Masking the scent." Rick repeated Daryl's explanation.

Daryl nodded.

It was good enough. The others would believe it at least. Even though he wasn't as sure.


	4. No Wonder

Andrea was there when Shane and Rick told Daryl about what happened to Merle. All of them, herself included stood back and watched Daryl crumble. She didn't know what Rick thought was going to happen after telling the man they'd abandoned his brother on a roof of a building overrun with geeks.

And the trouble was Rick somehow managed to deliver the news with the least amount of empathy possible.

No wonder Daryl threw squirrels at him.

Everyone knew Merle was a jerk. On that roof Merle was dangerous. They were all better off without Merle. But it was equally obvious that Daryl felt differently. She couldn't even begin to guess at the complexity of relationship between Merle and Daryl Dixon. Truth was none of them knew Daryl very well because he didn't stick around camp much. He sat around the camp fire at night sometimes, mostly not saying anything, but he never bothered anyone the way his brother did.

Though there were a few times…

He'd blown up at Ed about something a few days back. The way Andrea recalled it was about something like Daryl accusing Ed of insulting his squirrels. Which sounded really stupid in hindsight, but she suspected it had less to do about squirrels and more about picking a fight.

"_What you saying?" Daryl got up from skinning another squirrel. None of them in camp was ever going to look at squirrels the same way again. Ever. Not that anyone complained about having fresh meat in their stews and soup. Except for Ed apparently._

_Ed frowned but stayed in his lawn chair in front of his tent. He took another puff on his cigarette and exhaled slowly._

_Daryl looked back briefly at his brother then back at Ed. "Well? Ya got something to say? Say it." _

_Merle laughed. "He said he's tired of eating rats for supper." _

_Daryl kept his eyes on Ed. "That what you said? You couldn't say that yourself? You got a mouth don't ya? Why don't you use it?" _

_Nothing happened. Ed grunted something about it not being worth it, then suddenly remembered it was his turn to take watch on top of the RV. _

_Daryl watched him go, and sat back down with Merle and picked up the squirrel he'd been working on. "Prick. I'd like to see him try and bring back anything worthwhile out of these damn hills." _

Another incident Andrea remembered clearly was with his brother. She didn't catch the first part of the argument and only overheard what was going on as she was walking back up from the lake.

"_You don't know that." Daryl shouted at Merle right after breakfast. _

"_Calling me a liar, boy?" Merle shot back. _

"_You know you are. There ain't no way you know anything about that." Daryl answered. They were both on their feet. Daryl paced. Five steps left, five steps right, all the time eyeing his brother suspiciously. Merle on the other hand stood absolutely still. _

_When Merle struck, Daryl went down like he'd been hit by a bus. One second he was still pacing, calling his brother a liar, and the next he was on the ground, with Merle standing over him. _

"_You gonna call me a liar again?"_

_Daryl stayed on the ground and glared up at his brother. The anger seemed to have gone out of him but his voice was calm and resolute. "You don't know shit." _

_Merle stepped forwards and kicked Daryl full in the stomach. Daryl curled up and coughed, trying to catch his breath. Merle sat back down and put his legs up on the cooler box they used as a table and didn't even bother to look when Daryl did get back up and grabbed his crossbow, disappearing down the path into the woods._

And then there was Shane. Shane who took charge of the camp for lack of anyone else standing up to do so. None of these people were prepared for the extent of what was happening to them, and almost everyone seemed to be content with the little bit of stability that someone with authority telling them what to do seemed to give.

The Dixon brothers were the exception. Merle tended to just ignore it, and Shane seemed content enough to let it slide without making an issue of it. Where Daryl was concerned, however, Shane took a slightly different approach.

_Shane grabbed Daryl's arm as he passed. "We need you to help with watch today." _

_Daryl looked at Shane's hand on his arm, but didn't move. "So I can sit on top a RV and pick my nose with Ed? I'm going hunting." _

"_Everyone takes watch and you can help out just like everyone else. It's about time for you to do what you're asked to do rather than what you want."_

"_You're just as lost out here as all these other people. Go have your pissing contest with someone else. I do my part here, ain't no one can say different." Daryl challenged. _

_Shane swung him around to face the rest of the camp. "If it's between staying alive or eating squirrel for supper again, staying alive would be my choice." _

"_Get your hands off me." Daryl yelled and somehow managed to twist and get out of Shane's hold. He did some kind of a backwards skip then pointed at Shane. "You ever lay your hands on me again and we won't be talking." _

_Merle laughed and clapped his hands from where he sat. "Way to go Darlena, I always knew you were a pussy." _

_Daryl grabbed his crossbow as he passed by, not saying a word. _

It was later that day Merle decided to volunteer to be part of the scavenging party.

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	5. It Could Be Worse

A/N: I'm on a road trip with my family and I have my handy dandy little laptop to fill in the passenger time while my lovely hubby is driving. Yay for technology!

Things could be worse

Time moves on, and given enough time, a person can adapt to just about anything. Daryl stayed sitting by the fire long after everyone else went to sleep. He didn't even know why he stayed, but he did. He never thought he'd get comfortable around these people and their problems, but he was adapting. He tried not to think about what their lives may have been like before everything changed. He tried not to compare himself to them, and how people like them used to look at him like he was less than nothing. And now what? Was it really any different? Those days were gone. There were no more gated communities and low income housing projects to keep people sorted with their own kind. There was no more rent to worry about, or groceries, or cops coming by to ask him about what his brother was up to. No more paydays when Merle would turn up on his couch drunk or worse and he'd have to hide his cash or it would be gone (and Merle with it) before breakfast.

Everyone was just as edible as everyone else so far as the walkers were concerned.

He didn't miss much from that old life. He listened to the others playing the what I miss most game, talking about things like their computers, iphones, and hot tubs. Those were all things he knew nothing about. But there were some things he missed. He missed sitting on the front step and having a beer without needing to worry about some dead thing strolling up and trying to take a bite out of his ass. He missed not having to lug the damn cross bow with him where ever he went. So far as the others were concerned he bet they didn't think his life had changed much at all. He wondered if anyone realized the only hunting he'd done in the last few years consisted of poaching on his days off.

Carol crawled out of her tent and came over to sit in a lawn chair, picking up a stick to poke at the dying embers of the fire.

"Can't sleep?" She asked.

He shrugged. The answer was kind of obvious, after all.

She seemed to deflate a little, shoulders hunching and eye cast downward.

He wasn't sure what he did, but it never took much to set these people off. All of them were just way too sensitive. Not that it was his problem.

"Did you ever used to go camping?" He asked spontaneously. At first it looked like she wasn't going to answer and he figured that was just as well. He didn't really feel like making conversation anyway and it wasn't like he cared.

"With my parents. We used to go to the lake for a week every summer."

Responding wasn't something he'd considered before asking the question and that kind of left him wondering what he should say next, but fortunately Carol stepped in and continued her story before the silence got awkward.

"The lake was full of leeches, and there were more rocks than sand on the beach. But, just spending that time together as a family was nice." She looked up at him and smiled briefly. Daryl looked into her eyes for just a second before looking away. "Ed hated camping." She added. "How about you? Did you go camping as a kid?"

"With Merle a couple times. Mostly on my own. Never in, like, a campground or nothing." He didn't think relating how he and his brother went to the park to steal stuff while people were away from their tents and RV's would count as a camping story.

A twig snapped in the darkness of the forest around them and Daryl was instantly alert and readying his cross bow. There wasn't much to see, just trees and more trees and the darkness all around them, and so he focused on listening instead. No one could ever accuse a walker of being stealthy.

"Just an animal. Daryl whispered to set Carol at ease. She sat so still he started to wonder if she was holding her breath.

She nodded stiffly.

There were no more noises from the woods. It was probably an animal. Walkers weren't stealthy, but he knew some people who were. He gave it another minute and relaxed a bit, but not relaxed enough to put down his crossbow. He thought again about what that kid Randall had told him about what he and his buddies had done to those girls they came across. He knew Carol was disappointed in him and how he'd beat on the kid. She hadn't seen the lie in those eyes telling Daryl that if Randall hadn't been involved in raping those girls, he sure as hell would have liked to have been.

Maybe he was being paranoid, but he'd been thinking about it ever since. Thirty heavily armed men. He knew Merle had been hoping to find a group like that rather than this small bunch of weekend campers. Evidently, things would be better for Merle if they had.

What if? He knew Merle was an ass-hole and he'd been called a lot of things in his life, but rapist was never one of them. That didn't mean his brother respected women any more than he respected anyone else, but even Merle had lines he didn't cross. Unfortunately he also knew his brother well enough to know that even though his brother wouldn't have participated, he wouldn't have cared enough to stop it. To be fair, Daryl asked himself that question as well, what would he have done in Randall's place?

He knew the answer to that one as well. Nothing. He sure as hell wouldn't have sat around and watched, but he knew better than to speak out of turn. That was lesson taught to him the hard way, and one he wasn't likely to forget.

They'd been lucky so far that the meanest group they'd come across were those crazy Vastos in Atlanta, and those were just a bunch of nurses and janitors looking after old people. They were bound to come across other groups of survivors eventually. Daryl just hoped they were ready for it when they did.

"Was it Merle who taught you to hunt? Carol asked.

"What? No. Merle wasn't much for nature. He was one hell of a sniper in the military; not so good at following orders though." It only occurred to him afterwards he'd used the past tense. "Even one handed, I bet the bastard can shoot the head off a pin if he wants."

She looked away again, uncomfortable just like everyone else was whenever he mentioned Merle.

"Do you have any brothers or sisters?" Daryl asked her.

"No. I'm sorry, I can't imagine what it must be like-"

"Don't give me that shit. You lost your daughter and your husband. Merle ain't neither of those to me, and I know he can take damn good care of his self on top of that. So don't you even think of being sorry for me."

"I'm sorry."

"You see, and there you go again. Always having to be sorry for everything."

He could tell she wasn't sure how to take that, and was relieved when she settled on a grin.

"Aren't you ever sorry about anything you say or do?"

Daryl grinned. "Never." He lied. "What use is there worrying about whats already done and gone?"

She stood up and stretched. "I'm headed back to bed. How about you?"

"Later_."_ He watched her climb back into her tent and went back to staring at the fire. As much as these people were a major pain in the ass most of the time, and he knew if they ever came up against something really threatening the odds weren't in their favour of winning, he was still thankful he lucked into joining with them.

Things could be worse.


	6. Squirrel Hunter

The Squirrel Hunter

* * *

She liked watching people. She liked watching some people more than others and she knew a lot more than anyone gave her credit for. For example, she knew how not to be seen. She liked to pretend to be a wild animal, hiding and sneaking. A panther, or maybe a ninja. Or a hunter. The two new men who came up from the road were interesting. She didn't see much of them, and her mom made sure to tell her to stay out of their way, but she didn't explain why. The older one she didn't want to get near anyway, he had a mean looking face. The younger one was some kind of squirrel hunter; she never heard of anyone hunting squirrel before, but they tasted okay in stew. She liked his crossbow. It reminded her of Davy Crocket, but she thought probably Davy Crocket would have been cleaner and talked more. And she couldn't imagine the squirrel hunter wearing a coonskin hat either. But otherwise, they were kind of the same.

The older one wasn't around. Sophia crawled under the bush and watched the hunter cleaning his crossbow. He sat on the ground with the bow balanced across his legs, using an old rag that might have at one time been a sleeve. He snapped something into place and then sat really still for a second.

Then he glared right at her.

Sophia held her breath and stayed very still. Maybe he only heard something and didn't see her. She didn't dare move or back up because then he would for sure see something moving, and what if he mistook her for a squirrel? She closed her eyes and concentrated on being invisible, and tried not to think about what getting shot with a crossbow feels like.

When she opened her eyes again he was back to cleaning. He worked slow and careful, taking his time. Maybe she could find a crossbow like that and be a hunter too. She already knew how to creep up on things. She would be an awesome hunter. He finished and set the crossbow aside and stretched, leaning back and tilting his head back to look up at the sky. Sophia looked up, there wasn't anything interesting in the sky. He got up and knelt beside an old dufflebag, sorting through it for a second, looking for something. He pulled out a little box. For a moment he just looked at it and turned it around in his hand, and he looked back in her direction and glared again.

Sophia held her breath.

He looked away and tossed the box in the bushes right by her face. He grabbed his crossbow and walked off in the other direction down towards the lake.

Sophie grabbed the box. Smarties. She turned it around in her hands. It was unopened. She could smell the chocolate inside. She tore it open and dumped a handful into her palm and shoved them all in her mouth as quick as she could and then stopped half way through. She closed up the little box, and crept out of the bush. No one was around but she didn't intend to snoop. She looked at the duffle bag on the ground. She unzipped it just a tiny bit and slid the box back inside.

She heard her mom calling her name and quickly zipped it back up and ran back towards the other tents. She wondered what he would think to find it back in his bag later? She smiled thinking about it, boy would he be surprised!


	7. Insecure

**Insecurities** (season one, Quarry Camp)

* * *

She didn't know what to think. It was unnerving. And she hoped that Ed wouldn't read something into it that wasn't there, because for the life of her she couldn't think of a reason for it. She'd hardly ever even spoken to him, and certainly never for any reason other than anything strictly camp related. Carol stirred the pot of stew over the propane stove and glanced over her shoulder.

He sat on the dirt by the tree line, eating his dinner in the shade. Between the scowl on his face with every bite of the meal and the way his eyes narrowed and zeroed right in on her she felt like a bug under a microscope. She already checked her clothing and face for some kind of hideous flaw, though she had no idea why she thought Daryl Dixon would be glaring at her because of a wardrobe choice or any other aesthetic reason.

Was there something wrong with the stew? Did she spice it wrong? Even though it had been difficult to take that first bite knowing it was squirrel meat, it turned out better than anyone had expected. Was he mad about the stew, or had she done something to offend him?

She glanced over her shoulder again and he was still glaring at her. She could not think of any reason why the man would hate her so much. There wasn't a lot she could contribute other than making meals and doing laundry, but she tried to do her part. He'd rejected her offer to include his and his brother's clothing in with her wash. Was that it? Did he think she meant she thought he was dirty or couldn't do it himself?

Should she apologize? But what could she say? _Sorry I offered to wash your clothes?_ Maybe he just didn't like the look of her, she knew she wasn't anything special but that was no reason for him to be mean.

Sophia gently tugged at the back of her shirt and Carol scooped a helping of stew into her daughter's bowl before her eyes were yet again drawn back towards the trees where… he was gone. He'd left the bowl on the ground, and Carol went to retrieve it. Hardly even a lick was left in the bowl. Apparently the stew wasn't the problem. Carol sighed and tried not to let it get to her. There were much bigger things to worry about.


End file.
